Blunt talons

[Sean]

Noticed that rolfs talons are fairly blunt, there are still a good point, but when i life a toe the nail doesnt hurt, what could i do to help this? ive added a rock into the avairy, and not sure if this has caused it, or possible just the pea gravel?

[OutFlying]

your perch is most likely the cause.

[Graham Stuart]

agree they dont spend much time on the ground so prob the perch what is it made of , i prefer real branches in my avery and the birds talons are like razors

[Sean]

thanks guys, but he does seem to be on the floor alot, i use to put through the shute, so when he hears me he dives to the floor :S

[Wurkin]

Seems like you answered your own question. Change your feeding method and keep him off of the ground.

[Sean]

will his talons sharpen up again?

[Graham Stuart]

yes should do when i cut my iguanas nails within weeks they are sharp again and he also has natuaral branches

[OutFlying]

Sean,
Your picture of him in the mews, he's stood on a perch of 2x1 square timber with no padding on it. Cover this perch in astroturf, put a food ledge up off the ground and his talons will be sharp again in about 4 weeks.

[Sean]

cheers m8

[MattSpar]

Noticed that rolfs talons are fairly blunt, there are still a good point, but when i life a toe the nail doesnt hurt, what could i do to help this? ive added a rock into the avairy, and not sure if this has caused it, or possible just the pea gravel?

There's no doubt that pea gravel will blunt a bird's talons. You'll lose quite a lot of quarry this way, particularly game birds. For this reason I use washed sharp sand as a floor covering. To prevent sand adhering to your birds food is easy. Don't feed it in the weathering.

[OutFlying]

http://www.falconryforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=9138

The perch looks the main culprit to me, as in the link above. I could understand pea gravel wearing the talons out if the hawk was on a bow but it is free lofted.

Jim.

[MattSpar]

http://www.falconryforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=9138

The perch looks the main culprit to me, as in the link above. I could understand pea gravel wearing the talons out if the hawk was on a bow but it is free lofted.

Jim.

Yes, I see it is, but I don't think the wood will blunt them appreciably, though it won't help. The bird is bound to spend some time on the ground, and the gravel will soon blunt them. In the past, it's happened to me. Long ago, we used to have bow perches with a wooden bow (a curved piece of natural tree branch of the right diameter, with the bark left on, though this soon got stripped with bigger birds), and I never had birds with blunt talons, as long as I used sand as a substrate.

[Tim Laycock]

What do you reckon to this?

My Goshawks talons are always dull.
She perches on natural branches of the optimum diamiter.
The floor of the outdoor part of her flight is gravel, She does not go on the floor!
The indoor part of her flight has natural perches and a sealed concrete floor, She spends no time on this either.

The only other place she perches in the flight is a sill at the bottom the opening between indoors and outdoors and this is padded and overlayed with astroturf.

Her talons become dull.

Why do you think this is?

[Darren]

Blackbird that looks a good setup there:supz:

[ChakChek]

i think id move in with my bird if make it a home that good!

[Tim Laycock]

We do spend a lot of time both sat on the astroturf chirping to each other :lol:

[Ninja-Jon]

Many people will soak a towel in water and then wrap a perch in order to encourage the talons to slough off the external layers and become sharper

[Tim Laycock]

MattSpar, I am not a man who talks in stupidities or a poster of what I know not to be true.
The only time my girl stands on the floor is when she eats and she never eats in her flight

I know that she does not sit on the floor because she is an imprint and if she stood on the floor she could see whats going on and she likes nothing more than to observe all goings on around her.

The other reason I know this is because I have a cam in her mews and can check on her at any time regardless of wether I am sat in my lounge, at work or on another continent :D

She does not stand on the floor, I would not have made my initial post had I not been sure about this.

[Sean]

hey ninja jon, i also heard this before, but does it really work

[OutFlying]

BB,
Does she "bounce off the sides of the walls" when flying through the mews ?

Jim.

[Tim Laycock]

She did but only for ten mins after putting her in for the first time,months ago
She has not done so again and her talons have been honed since.